Issue 66 on sale now
Pedals
Effects units are a delicate issue for acoustic purists, and even more so if the effects unit in question is an entry level one. Sam Wise casts an eye over one such recently released unit.
The AX3A is Korg’s contender in the lucrative entry level multi-effects market. At one time, multiple effects in one box were only for the well heeled, not at all for acoustic guitarists, and generally in a very large box! The advent of Zoom, in particular, proved that high quality multi-effects units could be affordable for everyone, and now every manufacturer has one.
My first impressions of the Korg were not altogether positive. The unit feels light and plasticky, and as I inserted the batteries (four AAs) I was already questioning how well this pedal would stand up to the rigours of gigging life. The top panel is reasonably clear, with two foot switches, two rotary dials, one surrounded by two push buttons, and the central digital display, but the abundance of small legends gives it a cluttered appearance. Connectors are all on the back, comprising 9v DC power, and input, output and an expression pedal input all on 1/4 inch jacks.
Plugged in and ready to play, the AX3A is simple to use, with the two footpedals shifting between the preset tones, and both together putting the unit in bypass mode – switching on the digital tuner. How easy this two pedal manoeuvre would be on a dark and crowded stage, I won’t venture to guess. In order to give the pedal the best chance to impress, I plugged it into a mixing desk with the EQ set completely flat, and from there into a pair of powered Nearfield studio monitors, so that the amplification would have as little effect on the sound as possible. Flicking through the presets, I was pleasantly surprised to find them quite usable. Often these presets are designed to showcase the effects to the maximum, and can sometimes be too extreme to be useful, but in this case, they are fairly restrained and easy on the ear.
It’s not for the presets that one buys a modelling processor however, so I set about exploring the functionality and to build some sounds of my own. Small units mean few buttons, and the AX3A is no exception, meaning that you really have to read the manual to get the feel for it. The left hand rotary control takes you from program mode (in which you simply select existing programs to use) into edit mode, and has a position for each bank of effects, and one for any parameters which are associated. This is where it gets tricky. When you move the left hand dial to the position to select, for example, delay and reverb, the right hand rotary control becomes the mix control, determining how much of the new effect signal is mixed in with your dry guitar signal to get the overall sound. The push buttons that surround the left hand control shift you up and down through the various effects available in that bank, or pressing them both together (harder than it sounds) turns that bank of effects off altogether. Shifting to the parameter position associated with that bank on the right hand dial allows you to select one of up to four parameters, and change their levels.
Given the sheer number of effects and parameters, this requires you to refer to the manual, experiment and listen, or have the memory of an elephant if you want to know what each parameter is. It’s a far from simple or intuitive interface, and if you’ve been spoiled as I have by the ease of use of many software effects on your PC, you may find it frustrating, but it does get a lot of functionality into a small space.
Part of the rationale of these pedals is that you’ll use them all the time, and that being the case, you’ll soon overcome the clunkiness of the system.
Now we come down to what counts most of all, the sound. Most acoustic guitarists tend to be sparing in their use of effects, liking a light touch of chorus, a hint of reverb, but nothing which masks the essential sound of the guitar. The Korg performs competently here, providing banks of pre effects (such as compression or limiting) modulation, delay/reverb, tone control, a notch filter for eliminating feedback, and the guitar modelling section. I was surprised at how useable some of the more ‘out there’ effects were, with the rotary speaker sound, for example, feeling big and lush, and even the drone effect giving me a pleasingly sitar-like vibe when used carefully. The more conventional effects were nice enough too, with ringing choruses, controllable reverbs, and enough compression available to help you cut through a band.
What had really interested me about this unit, however, was the guitar body and mic modelling, and at first, I was disappointed. Picking one of the presets, and switching the body styles around in it only gave the impression of messing around with the tone controls. A different approach, however, yielded much better results. Having plugged into my digital recording system, I turned off every bank of effects except Mic and Body, and then recorded the same few bars with each of the effects in that bank selected. I did this firstly to hear the difference each made when divorced from other effects, but also so that I could listen back to the recording, and judge it without hearing the acoustic sound of my guitar blended in. The effect was impressive. While I couldn’t say that it transformed my Washburn into a Martin dreadnought, or a Gibson parlour guitar, it did give me a range of sounds which were both pleasant, and well differentiated. The Nylon and Reso sounds had been particularly unimpressive at first listen, but without the feel of steel strings under my fingers, or the unamplified sound of the guitar ringing in my ears as well, they took on a far more convincing quality, although still by no means perfect.
This approach was more akin to selecting the right guitar for a song before starting to add effects, and made it much easier to build up the sort of sound I wanted. To my mind, it’s the ability to sound like you have a range of guitars that counts the most to buyers on a budget, and for me, it’s this modelling that makes much more difference than the other effects. Overall, I was impressed, and provided that one starts simple, and builds the sound up, some excellent results are possible.
The AX3A left me in a bit of a quandary as to what it was really for. Its construction feels to me a little weedy for the stage, though the flexibility of sound would be nice there. It seemed to me an ideal tool for the burgeoning ranks of musicians with home recording systems, who can’t afford a wall full of fine guitars, but are prepared to do a bit of work tweaking their sound to get what they want. If the AX3A is truly aimed at them, however, why is it not equipped with a balanced XLR output?
Overall, the AX3A represents value for money, and if you’re prepared to be patient in search of a great sound, and gentle with your feet, you are unlikely to be disappointed. That said, however, it didn’t set me on fire, even at the price, and would-be buyers, especially for live use, would be well advised to check out the competition thoroughly before making their decision.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Share this post
